


you knew it still hurts underneath my scars

by bexgempisces



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: And the dog!, Daisy has PTSD, Gen, and daniel is always there, because that stuff doesn’t go away, breakdowns and emotional episodes, but also dealing with their issues, but also sad kinda, its a family Fic!, parenting, they get married and have a kid!, they have a dog too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:13:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25561876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bexgempisces/pseuds/bexgempisces
Summary: “Yeah, what’s wrong baby girl?” It wouldn’t be Maia phoning him from Daisy’s phone unless something was wrong. “Is Mommy okay?”“Mama’s sad, Daddy.”-A DaisySousa future Fic about dealing with PTSD years after their wars have ended. And yknow, their child.
Relationships: Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa
Comments: 9
Kudos: 168





	you knew it still hurts underneath my scars

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, as you can see I can’t stop writing sad Daisy Johnson fics but this one has fluff and cute moments and a child and daniel being the best husband so it’s okay. 
> 
> WARNINGS: this does describe emotional breakdowns. 
> 
> But honestly I think it’s important to talk about stuff like this. 
> 
> As always I hope yall enjoy and any and all feedback is always appreciated so let me know what you think! Thanks for reading! -bex x

Daniel knew something was wrong the minute he answered his phone and his four year old answered. 

“Daddy?” His heart leapt into his throat as the angelic voice of his daughter, Maia, flooded through the phone. 

“Yeah, what’s wrong baby girl?” It wouldn’t be Maia phoning him from Daisy’s phone unless something was wrong. “Is Mommy okay?” 

“Mama’s sad, Daddy.” 

Oh. One of those days. 

That filled him with a whole new sense of dread, Daisy hadn’t had an episode in months. The last time had been when Maia had fallen off the swings in the playground and twisted her ankle. They’d only just replaced the photo frames from where they’d fallen off the walls due to the force of her quakes. 

“Did something happen, honey?” He asks, picking up an extra tub of ice cream and a new Disney dvd he hopes will distract Maia until Daisy calms down enough to let herself hold her daughter. 

This was a process they’d been through a hundred times in the seven years they’d been together. This was just stage one. She’d hide herself away and cry for hours, all her grief and pain coming out in her sobs. Then there’d be the rage, angry and defeated quakes that shook the entire house until she eventually took to the punching bag in their garage. Then he’d wrap her hands and she’d just stare blankly into space for an hour or two, her occasional whimpers about the storm in her head the only clue she was still with him. After all that, she just wanted to be held and hold Maia. The three of them, and quite often their rescue/therapy dog Toast, would cuddle up in Daisy and Daniel’s bed until life started to feel normal again. 

The episodes didn’t happen as much anymore, therapy and Toast and the birth of Maia had a healing effect on Daisy but there was too much trauma in her past to truly move on forever. They were happy and had a good life, but they had history. And that history had its side effects. 

“I don’t think so Daddy. We were just playing outside, then this was this big banging sound, Mr Jones was showing Jamie fireworks. And then Mama went really quiet and pulled me inside and locked all the doors. Daddy, is she okay?” His little girl sounded so worried and he wasn’t surprised. She was very attune to emotions, particularly her mothers. Daisy always joked it was one of the genetics he’d passed down to her, along with his smile and nose. Everything else about Maia was Daisy, her eyes, her willingness to help others, even her laugh was like Daisy’s. She was a perfect mix of the two of them and everyone who met Maia instantly fell in love with the small girl. 

“She’ll be okay baby, remember the last time? When you hurt your ankle on the swings? Mama’s had some bad stuff happen to her and sometimes she gets sad about it, but she’s going to be okay. Is anything shaking yet?” 

“No, Daddy.” 

“Then can you go give her lots of cuddles until Daddy gets home? I’ll only be twenty minutes okay?” 

“Okay, Daddy. I love you.” 

“Love you too, baby.” 

Daniel hung up the phone and sped through the checkouts of the store before speeding back to their house. 

His mind raced the whole time and he wondered if they would ever get to a point where loud noises wouldn’t send them running into the house and locking the doors. Where they wouldn’t put trackers into everything Maia owned just in case. Where they didn’t carry guns everywhere they went because of the paranoia they would be ambushed at the movies or the grocery store. Where they didn’t keep Maia in their sights at all times just in case someone connected the dots and she became a target. He wondered if they’d ever just be a normal family like the Jones down the street. 

But this was their normal. Their family was created and started in a war, but it was real and it was true. He had a wife he loved more than life itself and a child he would give the world and the galaxy to if she asked. Hell, they even had a dog that was the heart of the family. So what if they had more PTSD and trauma than most people could comprehend, it was just part of their history. 

He enters the house and Toast greets him in his usual manner of head butting his real leg, the dog could tell the difference from the get-go, until Daniel scratched behind his ears. 

“Where are they, Toast?” He asks the golden retriever. Toast turns and heads up the stairs and Daniel follows. 

He can hear Maia’s voice through the door of their bedroom. He can also hear Daisy’s sniffles and the occasional giggle. Maia has this knack of making you laugh no matter what state you were in. He knew it wouldn’t last long though and Daisy was probably waiting until their daughter was out of earshot to break down. 

“Hey, hows my girls?” He announces his presence and saw Daisy freeze for a moment before fresh tears gathered in her eyes. He could tell she was on the verge of an emotional breakdown and knew he had to let her ride it out. 

“Hey baby girl, I got you that new Disney movie. You wanna go watch it with Toast downstairs?” He swept his daughter into his arms and stroked hair out of his face the way he would have to do with her mother in about ten minutes. 

Maia’s face lit up at the prospect of a new movie so he brought her downstairs and settled her on the couch with Toast and her baby blanket she’d had since birth. He set up the movie, still a little proud he did it by himself,(he’d been in the future for seven years but technology still tripped him up sometimes)and made sure the baby monitor was on and the doors were all locked. 

Just in case. 

He left the two on the couch as the movie started and Maia was instantly transfixed. He watched her for a moment and thanked god for giving them this little bundle of light before heading upstairs to Daisy. 

She’d moved from the bed to the floor of the closet and she’d started sobbing. It still broke his heart even after all this time and he cursed everyone and everything that had hurt her. 

“Hey, love. Can I come in?” He always made sure he asked. Daisy sometimes freaked out when people, including him, got too close when she was like this. 

She nodded though, so he slotted himself beside her in the closet. She always cried in here, this stage of her episodes always happened in this closet. Honestly, he didn’t know why. He’d asked but Daisy herself couldn’t explain it, only that the small space made her emotions not seem as big. 

He didn’t touch at first, just letting her know he was there if she wanted him like he always did. They had a routine by now and he always stuck to it, just like Daisy did when he had flashbacks of the war or the final battle against the Chronicoms when she’d nearly died in his arms again. 

He wiped his brain clear of that memory reminding himself that Daisy was right beside him and they had a beautiful, living daughter downstairs. Daisy let out another sob and pushed her head into his shoulder. He began stroking her hair, whispering soft assurances that he was here and Maia was okay and the war was over, they were safe. 

She sobbed until she ran out of tears and he was dreading the next stage. Once she stopped crying normally the house shook and she’d flee to the garage. She’d pound at the punching bag until eventually, she slipped to the floor and just stared at nothing, whilst he wrapped her hands and eventually brought Maia through to let Daisy know she was okay. 

But that didn’t happen this time. The walls weren’t shaking and she didn’t have the pure rage in her eyes he normally saw after the tears. She wasn’t cursing herself and everyone that had hurt her or begging the screaming in her head she’d told him about to stop like usual, she was silent. 

In a way, that scared him more. Daisy’s silence was always unnerving, even in her sleep she made noise, soft groans as she rolled over old injuries that never fully healed or murmuring to him in her sleep. Even when Maia was born and the newborn refused to sleep, Daisy sang to her or just talked to her. The sound always seemed to calm the infant down and she normally fell asleep after an hour or two of listening. Even when she had episodes like this and she stared into space for two straight hours she made noise, soft pleads and angry whispers at the monsters in her head. 

So for her to he completely silent...was strange. 

“Hey, Dais? What are you thinking?” It was the easiest way to get her to talk. 

Daisy peeled her head away from Daniels shoulder and he saw an emptiness in her eyes he hadn’t seen since after the time loop. That scared him almost as much as her silence. 

“It was just a firework.” Her voice was cracked and soft and he was happy briefly that she’d broken her silence before addressing the issue it raised. 

“I know, Maia told me. Why did it cause this, baby?” He kept us voice gentle, trying not to disturb the atmosphere in the closet. 

“I thought that it was starting again.” 

And Daniels heart constricted because of course she had. It had been seven years since the war with the Chronicoms and the battle against the rogue Inhumans and Malick, and since they all left SHIELD but it was always there, at the back of their minds, that it could start all over again. One single explosion and they could be there again. 

But it wasn’t going to happen, not this time. They’d been dragged into enough battles and it wasn’t going to happen again. He wasn’t going to let it. 

“It’s never going to happen again, Daisy. I promise you, no more wars or robots or time travel or loops or anything. Just you, me, Maia, Toast and our family. And I will personally destroy all the fireworks on earth if I have to.” 

She let out a wet laugh and everything felt a lot lighter. If she was laughing then they weren’t headed for the hardware store to fix the hole in the wall from quakes again, she wouldn’t have split knuckles and bruises for weeks and the punching bag would remain tucked away in the garage. If she was laughing right now, then they were okay for the moment. 

“So you good for just now? Cos if you need to go rage on the bag I’ll wrap your hands later.” He makes sure to give her the offer, though he doesn’t think she needs it this time. 

“Nah, I think I just needed to cry it out today. Now, I do believe our baby girl is watching the newest Disney movie without us and that is never okay in my book.” She smiles at him and he falls in love with her all over again. 

“Then lets go sort that out.” 

So the two of them, Maia, Toast and about nineteen stuffed animals cuddle close on the couch and snuggled to watch Frozen 2. 

And as Daisy and Maia fell asleep as the end credits rolled, he watched them both and was endlessly glad he’d stayed all those years ago. 

He was where he needed to be, after all. 


End file.
